OpenAI veterans launch Zero Shot, a $100M VC fund with a view on where AI is — and isn't — headed
What's the deal? A group of OpenAI veterans has launched Zero Shot, a new venture capital fund targeting $100 million, and has made its first close. The fund has already written its first cheques.
The five founding partners are:
Zero Shot has backed Worktrace AIDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, an enterprise automation discovery platform founded by former OpenAI product manager Angela JiangDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, which raised a $10 million seed round from investors including former OpenAI CTO Mira MuratiDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → and the OpenAI Startup FundDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. It also invested in Foundry RoboticsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a next-generation factory robotics startup that raised a $13.5 million seed led by Khosla Ventures, and a third company still in stealth.
Why now? The OpenAI alumni network has become one of the most sought-after signals in venture, and the Zero Shot team says their hands-on experience building and shipping AI products gives them a different kind of conviction than most VCs.
The fund name is a play on the AI concept of zero-shot learning — performing tasks without prior examples — and reflects the view that the best founders are those who can operate without a playbook.
What could go wrong? At $100 million, Zero Shot is a small fund in an exceptionally competitive early-stage AI market. Brand and network alone won't win deals against well-capitalised firms already deeply embedded in the OpenAI ecosystem, such as Spark Capital and Thrive Capital.
The fund is also sceptical of several hot categories — vibe coding platforms, digital twins, and egocentric video data for robotics training — which could mean missing winners if their read on model capabilities proves wrong.
The signal: Zero Shot is part of a broader pattern of AI lab alumni launching funds with inside knowledge of where the technology is headed. The team's willingness to publicly flag categories they consider technically unfeasible is unusual candour in a sector where few VCs admit what they won't fund. For founders, access to people who built the foundational models may prove as valuable as the capital itself.
Sources:
TechCrunch
The Tech Buzz
Silicon Canals
Tech in Asia
The Inspirepreneur Magazine
Mezha
Image credit:
Zero Shot
J.V.
